Tigers outslug Dodgers

Thursday

Jun 23, 2011 at 12:01 AM

LOS ANGELES - The ball came off Dioner Navarro's bat hard, sending Austin Jackson into a dead sprint. He made an over-the-shoulder catch on the bases-loaded drive for the final out, singlehandedly salvaging a rare victory for Detroit on its road trip.

Casper Wells opened the game with one of four home runs by the Tigers, who went on to a 7-5 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday.

"Jackson has done it time and time again," Wells said. "He makes it look easy."

Jackson entered the game as a defensive replacement in the ninth inning.

"I got a good jump on it," he said. "It hung up there long enough to make a play."

Wells and manager Jim Leyland thought the ball was on its way out of the park because balls tend to carry better in day games at Dodger Stadium.

"I thought it was trouble," Leyland said. "He made a hell of a catch."

Besides Wells, Miguel Cabrera and Magglio Ordonez also homered. So did Don Kelly, who connected as a pinch-hitter for Ordonez in the eighth inning. It was the second time this season the Tigers hit four homers in a game.

"It was a hard-fought win," Leyland said. "It's not the best of road trips (2-6), but to end it with a win is pretty good."

Jose Valverde struck out pinch-hitter Casey Blake and retired Navarro on the fly ball for his 17th save in as many chances. Navarro also struck out with the bases loaded to end the fifth.

"I thought it was going to go over his head, for sure. I saw it on the replay, and he got a great jump on it," Navarro said. "He's extremely fast, and he got to that ball like nothing."

The loss snapped the Dodgers' three-game winning streak and kept them from winning four in a row for the first time this season. They were trying to complete their first series sweep of the season and first interleague series sweep since 2006 against the Angels.

Al Alburquerque (4-1) got the victory in relief, striking out four and walking two in 21/3 innings.

Tigers starter Rick Porcello allowed nine hits and five runs in 42/3 innings and was lifted with a 6-4 lead. He struck out two, walked one and was one out shy of the required number of innings for a victory. It was the second straight game in which he failed to go five.

"I felt bad for Porcello," Leyland said. "He got nickel-and-dimed so bad. He made some good pitches. Sometimes it's just not a guy's day and I couldn't let him go on any longer. I felt terrible for him."

Ted Lilly (5-7) gave up six hits and six runs in 42/3 innings, struck out eight and walked one.

It was the left-hander's second straight rough outing, having given up five earned runs and eight hits in a 7-3 loss to Houston last Friday.

"Today was one of those days where I was behind in the count more than usual," Lilly said. "When you're pitching from behind like that, the hitters are more comfortable and they can shrink the zone a little bit. That makes my room for error a lot less.

"There were quite a few occasions where I thought I needed to make a better pitch. The pitch to Magglio Ordonez was not a very good pitch in that situation. You take that one back and the game's different. I need to get better."

Wells started Detroit's home run derby with his first career leadoff homer.

Ordonez hit a two-run shot into the left-field pavilion in the second, extending Detroit's lead to 3-2.

Cabrera's two-run homer with two outs in the third bounced off the top of the fence and carried over after a leaping attempt by right fielder Andre Ethier, increasing the margin to 5-2.

Detroit scored with two outs in the fifth on Victor Martinez's RBI single that made it 6-3.

The Dodgers closed to 6-5 in the fifth on Ethier's two-out RBI single against Porcello and James Loney's run-scoring single off Charlie Furbush. Albuquerque came in and walked Marcus Thames before striking out Navarro.

The Dodgers scored two runs in the first when Matt Kemp tripled home a run with two outs and scored on Loney's single. They added a run in the fourth on Thames' RBI single.

NOTES: The Tigers improved to 3-6 in interleague play this season, while the Dodgers fell to 3-3. ... Dodgers 2B Aaron Miles has hit safely in 12 of his last 14 games. ... Both clubs wore throwback jerseys, with the Tigers donning ones from the 1944 season and the Dodgers wearing their 1940s-era, powder blue uniforms with "Brooklyn" across the front.

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